Fairfax House

Ann Fairfax’s bedroom at Christmas ✨🕯️

Our Christmouse guests have arrived 🌟🐭

Catch them skiing down the bannisters, swinging from the ceilings, bursting out of drawers and even sneaking a swig of the Viscount’s best Port!

Plus, act detective and play your role in working out which whiskered character stole the missing Fairfax Ruby.... Can you catch the 'inside mouse'?

Kids go FREE!

Our house mouse guests are arriving in all their festive finery ready for our grand opening of 'A Christmas Moustery: The Case of the Missing Ruby' tomorrow.

Some may already be a bit merry after helping themselves to a little too much of the Christmas feast...

What mischief will you find them up to as you explore the house dressed for a traditional Georgian Christmas and try to find the 'inside mouse' who helped steal the Fairfax Ruby....



Visit York

Our mice are hard at work sweeping, baking, sewing and tidying this week as they prepare the house for Christmas! 🧵🎄🐭

We’re opening for A Townmouse Christmas this Saturday. Click the link in our bio for tickets 🔗

Ghost Week has come to a close! Here are some of our tricker to spot ghosts hidden in the house… 🕵️‍♀️🕯️ Did you spot them all?
Swipe to see where they’re hidden ➡️

Fairfax House by the glow of candlelight 🕯️

The house is looking even more stunning than usual this evening for our Annus Horribilis by Candlelight

`🕯´ TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR ANNUS HORRIBILIS BY CANDLELIGHT

Four of our house guests are sadly now unable to join us this Friday night 1 November. We cordially extend our invite in the hope that you may be able to join instead.

These tickets to experience Fairfax House by the glow of candlelight are highly sought after and were previously sold out. We have the following tickets available on Friday 1 November:

5pm - 1 ticket
5.45pm - 2 tickets
6pm - 1 ticket

If you would like to join as a group of four, please purchase all the remaining tickets and our house team will try our best to accommodate you together. Please email us at [email protected] once you have purchased your tickets.

We hope to see you by candlelight for an experience like no other.

https://fairfax-house.arttickets.org.uk/fairfax-house/annus-horribilis-by-candlelight-york-ghost-week-66ec1d98a1696

When your ghost blends seamlessly with your wallpaper....

You are invited to Fairfax House this Ghost Week to complete the puzzles and fun challenges set for you by the Fairfax family during their 'Annus Horribilis'.

You'll need to use all your powers of perception to solve them.

Can you count the ghosts hidden amongst the fine interior decoration of the drawing room?

Those who answer all the tasks set around the house correctly will be entered into a prize draw to win a highly coveted Samuel Carpenter wallpaper ghost - a York Ghost Merchants Black Box Limited Edition Ghost.

Anne would love to know where you would display the ghost should you be lucky enough to win it - upon your grand piano, amongst the trinkets in your cabinet of curiosities or perhaps amidst your library of manuscripts?

We look forward to welcoming you as guests - the invitation remains open until Sunday.

Visit York

ANNUS HORRIBILIS: GHOST WEEK

This week we’ve been closed to the public, setting up our Ghost Week puzzles across Fairfax House. Here’s one to get you started, how many ghosts can you spot in these photos?

Tickets are still available using the link in our bio 👻

🪡TINY MOUSTERPIECES!🪡

Our wonderful Fairfax House volunteers are busy hand stitching costumes for the return of our unmissable festive event - A Christmas Moustery: The Case of the Missing Ruby.

Over 400 mice will once again be house guests for Christmas, wearing costumes created from fabric remnants and designs inspired by period Georgian costumes.

They cut and stitch jackets, dresses and cloaks - designing each outfit as close as possible to historic garments of the period. They then spend hours beading, embroidering and felting, so that each mouse can assume its unique role.

We love the Dastardly Highway Mouse, who will take centre stage in this year's whodunnit. Do you have a favourite mouse from previous Christmouses?

Booking is now open and KIDS UNDER 16 GO FREE with a paying adult. Use promo code 'mousemas' for 10% off your adult tickets until 31 October.

https://www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-mousetery/

SAMUEL CARPENTER WALLPAPER GHOST

The Fairfax family invite you to visit during York Ghost Week - just over a week away - for your chance to admire and win this most beautiful and exquisite of ghosts.

This York Ghost Merchants Black Box Edition is one of only six made and features details from the peacock and peony wallpaper adorning Anne Fairfax's bedroom.

It was gifted to Anne to help lift her spirits in 1763 - an Annus Horribilis (horrible year) for the family. House guests during Ghost Week will find themselves transported back to this time of dark clouds and low fortunes.

You will encounter a series of perplexing puzzles and fun challenges in each room for you to solve. Those who manage to investigate carefully and find all the correct answers will be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win this exclusive ghost.

The Fairfax family also extend an invitation to visit by candlelight on select evenings but many others have already accepted the invite and you will need to be fast as the guest list is almost full.

We hope you can accept the invitation and would love to hear of your itinerary for York Ghost Week.

www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk/whats-on/annus-horribilus/

Visit York

📣 GHOST REVEAL. ANNUS HORRIBILIS - GHOST WEEK AT FAIRFAX HOUSE📣

Join us this Ghost Week and be in with a chance of winning this exquisite Samuel Carpenter Wallpaper Ghost - a Black Box Edition Ghost and one of only six made.

To win this exclusive ghost you must visit Fairfax House and complete a series of puzzles and challenges set by the Fairfax family. Those who manage to investigate carefully and find all the correct answeres will be entered into a prize draw.

Can you discover why the family Chaplain was dismissed in disgrace or find out which money-grabbing cousin is the next Fairfax heir?

🗓️ Saturday 26 October to Sunday 3 November
⭐️ 16 and under visit free with a paying adult
🔗 Ticket link in bio

🔥 ‘ANNUS HORRIBILIS’ BY CANDLELIGHT 🔥

Experience ‘Annus Horribilis’ (horrible year) during Ghost Week after dark with the house lit entirely by the rich warm glow of candlelight.

We will transport you back to 1763 amidst the Fairfax family’s ‘Annus Horribilis’ - a time of dark clouds, anxieties and low fortunes.

This immersive experience will bring alive the intricate details of fabrics, furnishings and décor and offers a unique opportunity to see this magnificent historic house as it would have been on an eighteenth century winter’s evening.

The family have left a series of puzzles and challenges in each room for you to solve. Those who manage to investigate carefully and find all the correct answers will be entered into a prize draw to win an exclusive ghost – the York Ghost Merchants Black Box Edition, No. 22.

This coveted and limited edition ghost was gifted to Ann Fairfax to help lift her spirits. Its bespoke craftsmanship features exquisite details from the peacock and peony wallpaper Samuel Carpenter used to decorate Ann’s bedroom during this year of her troubles.

Can you sniff out the latest quack remedy concocted by the Apothecary to ‘cure’ Ann’s woes or count the ghosts hidden in the Drawing Room?

📆 Monday 28 October, Wednesday 30 October, Friday 1 November.
⭐️ Kids visit free with a paying adult.

Tickets and info at https://buff.ly/47THIbk

👻 ‘ANNUS HORRIBILIS’ – GHOST WEEK AT FAIRFAX HOUSE 👻

We will transport you back to 1763 amidst the Fairfax family’s ‘Annus Horribilis’ (horrible year) - a time of dark clouds, anxieties and low fortunes.

The Fairfaxes have left a series of perplexing puzzles and fun challenges in each room for you to solve. Those who manage to investigate carefully and find all the correct answers will be entered into a prize draw to win an exclusive ghost – the York Ghost Merchants Black Box Edition, No. 22.

This coveted limited edition ghost was gifted to Ann Fairfax to help lift her spirits. Its bespoke craftsmanship features exquisite details from the peacock and peony wallpaper Samuel Carpenter used to decorate Ann’s bedroom during this year of her troubles.

Can you sniff out the latest quack remedy concocted by the Apothecary to ‘cure’ Ann’s woes or count the ghosts hidden in the Drawing Room?

📆 Saturday 26 October to Sunday 3 November.
⭐️ Kids visit free with a paying adult.

Tickets and info at https://buff.ly/3N8Jn38



Visit York

p.s. winning ghost not pictured 👻

It is 1763 and despite finally being able to move into their newly built opulent townhouse, Viscount Fairfax and his daughter Ann’s fortunes are at an all-time low. Ann is sick and melancholic, suffering with wild imaginings and unable to lift the dark clouds which have enveloped her. Friends and strangers desperately try to console her, whilst her cousin, Madame I’Apothecaire, offers a dizzying array of quack concoctions.

The Viscount too is bereft, the last decades saw eight of his children and his dearly beloved wife die, leaving him without a male heir to continue to Fairfax line. Money troubles plague him, whilst scrounging relatives apply pressure for financial help of their own. He has had to dismiss his Chaplain, his family’s spiritual guide, for ‘immoral behaviour’ and his one solace, a good glass of Burgandy, has been soured by his most recent delivery of wine being completely unpalatable.

To lift their spirits Ann and the Viscount are opening up their townhouse to the good people of York. The Fairfaxes love to entertain their guests and so throughout the house have left a series of challenges and clues, based on their Annus Horribilis for you unpick. You’ll need to have a keen eye and sharp wit to be in with a chance of winning - as the Viscount would say Bon Chance!

So, join us at Fairfax House this Ghost Week for the chance to win one of the exclusive Ghost Merchant’s Black Box Edition No. 22. The Ghost was gifted to Ann Fairfax in 1763 by the skilled house painter and decorator Samuel Carpenter. Carpenter gave the Ghost to Ann as a token of compassion and to help lift her spirits during a time of particular distress. The Ghost has special poignancy for Ann as it features the exquisite block printed wallpaper, which includes peacocks and peonies, Carpenter used to decorate her new bedroom at Fairfax House.

To be in with a chance of winning this beautiful and delicate gesture of goodwill, you will need to step back in time to 1763 and discover Fairfax House’s Annus Horribilis: The Horrible Year. The house is full of clues to scrutinise, challenges to solve and ghosts to count, requiring all your senses! You will have to investigate carefully and guess correctly to be in with a chance of winning.

You can join us both in the day or on select evenings, by candlelight, from Saturday 26th Oct - Sunday 3rd November.

Early bird special: book in September with promo code '1763' to get 10% off your tickets!

https://buff.ly/3SzCh8Z

Are you excited for A Christmas Mousetery: The Case of the Missing Jewel?

Back by popular demand, this year a cast of over 400 hundred mousey companions are returning - you'll generally find swinging from the ceiling, bursting out of drawers, and causing general havoc whilst they play amongst our festive Georgian decor 🎄

However, this year there is also a mystery to be solved! The famous Fairfax ruby has been stolen by the dastardly Highway Mouse. To help the Fairfaxes recover their precious jewel and you must play detective to discover his accomplice - the 'inside mouse'. 🐭

Join us this Christmas for a family-friendly whodunit featuring your favourite mousey guests. Opens 9th November. Pre book your tickets now 🎟

https://www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-mousetery/